Both political parties seek Monroe County's black, Latino votes

Democratic Party activists are counting on minority voters to help put Monroe County in their win column Nov. 6, but local Republicans point to gains in wooing blacks and Latinos.

DAVID PIERCE

Democratic Party activists are counting on minority voters to help put Monroe County in their win column Nov. 6, but local Republicans point to gains in wooing blacks and Latinos.

National polls show President Barack Obama favored by 68 percent of the growing Latino vote and 95 percent of the black vote, both strong constituencies in the Poconos.

Monroe County has the third-highest percentage of Latinos among Pennsylvania's 67 counties and the fifth-highest percentage of blacks, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.

Monroe's combined minority population ranks second in Pennsylvania, according to a 2010 Census Bureau report.

But that doesn't mean Monroe County blacks and Latinos will follow the perceived national trend of voting Democratic, says Monroe County Republican Chairman Tom Geffers.

"I'm very confident as far as Monroe County," Geffers said. "Our local representatives have a great experience and great relationship with Hispanics and African-Americans. It's not just something we're going to do in the last month of the campaign."

Minority voters in the Poconos include business executives, entrepreneurs and others who are receptive to the Republican Party's free enter

Penn Estates resident Anthony Stevens-Arroyo, a retired Brooklyn College professor of Puerto Rican and Latino studies, says local Hispanics are worried about a law requiring all Pennsylvanians to produce photo identification before being allowed to vote.

Some activists contend the law was intended to prevent traditional Democratic voters who lack photo identification — particularly minorities, young people and the elderly — from casting a ballot Nov. 6.

A state judge has ruled that voters without photo ID didn't have enough time to meet the requirement, and delayed its implementation until next year.

"I think it will have a terrible effect on the Republican Party," Arroyo, also a member of the Democratically aligned El Pueblo Civic and Cultural Club, said of the photo ID law.

Geffers points to organizing work of a group called the Pocono Republican Hispanic Association as something that will help deliver the Monroe presidential vote to Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

Republican Hispanics are going door to door and making phone calls on behalf of the Republican ticket, organization President Fidelia Friedman said.

Hispanic business owners are worried about the financial burden of Obama's health care bill, which will require employers to offer health insurance to their workers, Friedman said.

"They tell us how Obamacare is going to hurt them," she said.

Friedman predicts a majority of Monroe County Hispanics, which include a large number of New York and New Jersey commuters, will vote for Romney. But they're not so anxious to reveal their preference publicly.

"Sometimes we have Latinos say, 'He's rich,' and we say, 'Is that the only thing you have against him?' It's not a crime," Friedman said.

Local Hispanics are more focused on the economy and education than issues like immigration, she said. Democrats take Hispanics for granted that they will vote for their candidates, she added.

Tobyhanna resident Dagmaris Cabezas, president of The Latino Task Force of Monroe County, switched her voter registration from Democratic to independent, despite voicing views supported by Democrats such as opposing the photo ID law and local anti-immigration crackdowns.

"I felt the Democratic Party was not reaching out to the Latino community," Cabezas said. "I think they need to support more Latinos for public office."

Juan Adams, an aide to state Rep. Mario Scavello, R-176, was elected as a Republican to the Coolbaugh Township supervisors, Cabezas noted. The Democrats should also recruit Latino candidates, she said.

Adams, a retired New York City police sergeant, was a registered Democrat selling real estate in the Poconos when he handed Scavello a business card. He accepted a 2006 offer to work on Scavello's staff. This led to a successful run for supervisor.

"I decided to run to try to improve my community — someone who could speak to them in their native language as well as English," Adams recalled.

Adams said his priorities of God, family and work closely align with the views of the Republican Party. He thinks Latinos of both parties will begin running for local office.

"I think naturally you're going to get more candidates come up," Adams said. "You're going to have a lot of people who commute who feel they aren't part of the community. The community needs to reach out."

Democrats have successfully reached out to Latino candidates, said Monroe County Democratic Chairwoman Anne Tiracchia.

Hector Cintron, a Hispanic, ran twice for county office, including for Monroe County prothonotary in 2007. Liz Saladin ran that year for county recorder of deeds. Both serve on the Monroe County Democratic Committee.

"We certainly are supporting Latinos for public office," Tiracchia said. "If you look at it, (Republicans) had one and we've had two candidates."

Local Democratic volunteers have been working hard to reach Monroe County job commuters, including minorities, and trying to register them regardless of party, Tiracchia said. She expects those efforts to result in Democratic gains Nov. 6.